Zeeshan’s brilliant 80 in vain as Malaysia clinch another thriller
By Jay Dasinghani

Hong Kong China looked dead and buried at 191 for nine, chasing 239 for victory against Malaysia in the first game of a three-match bilateral series against Malaysia.

Zeeshan Ali, however, turned the game around by peppering the leg side in a 21-run over from Rizwan Haider.

Malaysia, to their credit, turned the game around before Syazrul Ezat held his own in the last over, where the home side needed 8 runs to win. With 7 required off 2 balls and Sheryar Khan on strike instead of Zeeshan, the number eleven edged an attempted drive through to keeper Ainool Hafizs as Malaysia celebrated another come-from-behind win.

Earlier in the day, Sheryar starred with the ball, taking three wickets with the new ball, including opposition skipper Virandeep Singh who was caught by Martin Coetzee at slip for a golden duck. Ahmad Faiz and Ahmed Aqeel rescued Malaysia with a 118-run stand, the former racing to his century after a quiet start, clearing the leg side boundaries for all six of his maximums.

At 165 for 4 with ten overs left, Malaysia would have been eyeing at least 250. Yet, Aizaz Khan and Sheryar put on a death bowling master class to set up a manageable chase.

The home side struggled to find their feet in their chase until Aizaz and Zeeshan came together at 100 for five in the 21^st over. Along with occasional boundaries, the pair was able to regularly rotate the strike in a stand of 64 that came in just 74 balls.

Unfortunately for the home side, Aizaz (60) hit a long hop from Virandeep Singh straight into the hands of Syazrul Ezat before Virandeep trapped Dan Pascoe LBW soon after.

Hong Kong, China will get another crack at Malaysia who will round off their tour of the city-state with two final one day games on Thursday and Friday at the Tin Kwong Road Recreation Ground.

Brief Scores:

Malaysia 238/7 in 50 Overs (Faiz 101, Aqeel 54, Sheryar 4-56, Aizaz 2-34) beat Hong Kong China 232/10 in 49.5 Overs (Zeeshan Ali 80*, Aizaz 60, Syazrul 3-50, Vijay Unni 2-28) by 6 runs